Margaret Catherine Heiskell, Teacher

Bolivar Academy?

Madisonville, Monroe Co.

Margaret L. Blair was one of six children born to William S. Blair and Mahala Hall. Her parents were married in Blount County. Sometime thereafter they settled on a farm on the southwest side of Vonore in Monroe County. Margaret may have attended the Bolivar Academy , a co-educational school founded in 1825 in Madisonville. Margaret became the second wife of Dr. Joseph Upton. Margaret and the doctor had three children.

Margaret's large sampler is worked in silk on linen. She included the day and month she completed her sampler, but neglected to stitch the year. Based on other, related samplers, she was probably around 15 when she finished. She named her teacher, M. C. Heiskell, and identified her town, Madisonville.